Modern materials present a number of formidable challenges to the fabricators of a wide range of optical, semiconductor, and electronic components, many of which require precision shaping, smoothing, and polishing. Further, such a component often requires the cleaning of at least one surface before or after a step in the fabrication process. Other components simply require a fine cleaning separate from the fabrication process. Many current physical contact methods have the disadvantage of involving mechanical force at the microscopic scale that creates surface and possibly subsurface damage.
The basic designs and structure of a flame torch are well known, one of which contains a central tube that introduces a gas, liquid, or solid into the flame. This is the technology of flame photometry, a method by which a material can be chemically analyzed by injecting the material into a hot flame and analyzing the emission of light that results.
The use of plasma to chemically treat materials is also known. There are several known methods for using atmospheric plasmas to treat surfaces as such as rubber, plastic, and metals. The use of an oxygen plasma generated with an ICP to clean photoresist from the surface of a wafer has been described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,218,640. An ICP device can be quite complex, however, and comes with certain limitations. An ICP device can also be relatively expensive, and may not always be an optimal system for cleaning materials from a surface.
The use of an oxygen plasma to remove photoresist, a process called “ashing,” is well established in the semiconductor community. Ashing is usually carried out in an reactive ion etch (RIE) chamber at reduced pressure. The need for a vacuum chamber increases cost and reduces throughput. Further, oxygen plasma processing with an RIE process can require a separate step to remove the “ash” from the wafer. RIE methods are not directional, and therefore cannot be used to simply clean a specific area of contamination from a wafer.